"Two Simple Questions:
What makes work hard?
What makes work easy?"
There are two kinds of performance
1. Desired Performance
2. Undesired Performance
Desired Performance is any performance that you want to occur. It's performance that contributes to achievement of your company's goals. It's sometimes called productive performance or good performance or even high performance.
Undesired Performance is any performance that's not desired performance, it does not contribute to achievement of your company's goals and is often referred to as poor performance, non performance or under performance
An employee (or team) at any given time is engaging in either
desired performance or undesired performance.
There is no such thing as “neutral performance” or “no performance.”
So What is Performance Improvement?
In simple terms Performance Improvement is concerned with "cause and effect":
Identifying the causes for undesired performance so we can eliminate these to close the performance gap (or at the very least reduce their impact)
Identifying and understanding the causes that influence desired performance so we can leverage these in order to replicate and sustain "good" performance.
Identifying behaviours that contribute to undesirable performance and replacing these with specific behaviours that will result in desired performance.
Performance Improvement therefore involves a systematic process of:
1. Analysing and defining the gap between actual performance (what you're getting now) and the desired performance
2. Designing ethical, cost-effective interventions directed towards changing behaviour to close performance gaps
3. Evaluating the financial and non financial results
The 9 Variables that Influence Performance
In order to do this well it is essential to define both the performance gap and the desired performance within the context of the whole picture. A Performance Improvement strategy will therefore evaluate 9 performance variables. It begins by looking at 3 Levels within an organisation:
Organisational Level: Strategic, design/structure and deployment of resources
Process Level: Process improvement
Job Performer Level: Performance management, coaching and training interventions
Three Performance Needs must be met at each of the three levels:
Goals: Specific standards or expectations customers have for products or services
Design: Structures and systems that enable goals to be met efficiently
Management: Practices that ensure goals are relevant and achieved
The Three Level Framework (Rummler and Brache 1990)
| Performance Needs |
1. Goal |
2. Design |
3. Management |
| 1. Organisational Level |
Organisation Goals |
Organisation Design |
Organisation Management |
| 2. Process Level |
Process Goals |
Process Design |
Process Management |
| 3. Job Performer Level |
Job Performer Goals |
Management Design |
Job Performer Management |
This matrix of Levels and Needs produces the 9 variables, each of which must be considered to determine the effect on individual, collective and organisational performance as well as identifying where the opportunities exist to improve performance.
1. Performance at the Organisational Level
Evaluation and analysis at this level helps us to understand an organisations goals, how it has been designed to achieve these, the way work is currently being done and how departments and individuals contribute to this. This enables us to identify disconnects (breakdowns) so they can be fixed.
2. Performance at the Process Level
If you want to understand the way work gets done, to improve the way work gets done, and to manage the way work gets done, processes should be the focus of your attention and actions. Rummler and Brache
Processes need to be designed to enable organisational goals to be achieved.The process level is considered the critical link between organisation and individual performance and therefore offers the greatest opportunity for improvement. Even outstanding employees cannot improve their performance where there are poor processes.
3. Performance at the Job Performer Level
If capable, well-trained people are placed in a setting with clear expectations, minimal task interference, reinforcing consequences, and appropriate feedback, then they will be motivated. Rummler and Brache
People make processes work therefore their goals need to be aligned with and their efforts directed towards achieving process and organisational goals. The work needs to be designed in such a way with sufficient resources to enable them to achieve these goals. They need to deliver specific results so at this level needs are concerned with
Providing effective leadership
Creating an environment so that employees can do their best.
Developing employees through selection, education, coaching and training.
Reference: Rummler, G & Brache, A (1990). Improving Performance: How to Manage the White Space on the Organization Chart. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
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